Clinical integration of facial recognition processing

ABSTRACT

Embodiments herein disclose systems, methods, and computer-readable media for integrating facial recognition technology into clinical workflows. An application can manage receipt of a source image, including a face of an unidentified individual, and communicate the source image for facial recognition processing. The facial recognition processing can identify an individual and demographic information associated thereto, as well as provide information to access an electronic health record server housing one or more electronic health records. The application can access health-related data for the individual from the individual&#39;s EHR and rank the accessed information to communicate to a source device in a custom, prioritized communication.

CROSS-REFERENCE SECTION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/531,192, titled “Clinical Integration of Facial RecognitionProcessing,” filed Aug. 5, 2019, which is expressly incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Each year, many unconscious and unidentified individuals are admitted tothe emergency department (“ED”). While first responders and cliniciansare trained to react without an identification, the care providedcertainly benefits from accurate health data regarding the patient.Treatment to unidentified individuals is currently provided without anydiagnoses, allergies, or health data.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter. The present invention is defined by the claims as supported bythe Specification, including the Detailed Description and Drawings.

In brief and at a high level, embodiments of the present inventionprovide systems, methods, and computer-readable media for clinicalintegration of facial recognition capabilities. Embodiments provide anapplication that coordinates with various components of a system tointegrate facial recognition analysis into clinical workflows.

One embodiment provides one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that,when executed by a processor of a computer device, perform a method. Themethod comprises receiving an image of an individual from a sourcedevice, wherein the image comprises a face of the individual; receivinga unique identifier associated with the face of the individual;utilizing the unique identifier, accessing demographic information ofthe individual, wherein the demographic information is derived from anelectronic health record of the individual; communicating thedemographic information to the source device; accessing one or more ofat least one problem associated with the individual or at least oneallergy associated with the individual; and communicating the at leastone problem or the at least one allergy to the source device.

Another embodiment provides one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that,when executed by a processor of a computer device, perform a method. Inaccordance with the media, the method comprises receiving an image of anindividual from a source device, wherein the image comprises a face ofthe individual; receiving a unique identifier associated with the faceof the individual; utilizing the unique identifier, accessingdemographic information of the individual, wherein the demographicinformation is derived from an electronic health record of theindividual; communicating the demographic information to the sourcedevice; accessing one or more of at least one problem associated withthe individual or at least one allergy associated with the individual;communicating the at least one problem or the at least one allergy tothe source device; and generating a pre-arrival note for the individualprior to arriving at a destination, wherein the pre-arrival note ispre-populated with at least the demographic information.

Yet another embodiment provides a system for clinical integration offacial recognition. The system comprises one or more processorsconfigured to: receive an image of an individual from a source device,wherein the image comprises a face of the individual; receive a uniqueidentifier associated with the face of the individual; utilize theunique identifier to access demographic information of the individual,wherein the demographic information is derived from an electronic healthrecord of the individual; communicate the demographic information to thesource device; query the electronic health record to determine if one ormore of at least one problem or at least one allergy is associated withthe individual; and communicate at least one of (i) a notificationindicating there is not at least one problem or at least one allergyassociated with the individual in the electronic health record, (ii) theat least one problem, or (iii) the at least one allergy to the sourcedevice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments are described in detail below with reference to the attacheddrawings figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of an exemplary system architecture inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 depicts a diagram of exemplary component interactions inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of an exemplary computing environmentsuitable to implement embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The subject matter of the present invention is described withspecificity herein to meet statutory requirements. However, thedescription itself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent.Rather, the inventors have contemplated that the claimed subject mattermight also be embodied in other ways, to include different steps orcombinations of steps similar to the ones described in this document, inconjunction with other present or future technologies. Moreover,although the terms “step” and/or “block” may be used herein to connotedifferent elements of methods employed, the terms should not beinterpreted as implying any particular order among or between varioussteps herein disclosed unless and except when the order of individualsteps is explicitly described.

As one skilled in the art will appreciate, embodiments of the disclosuremay be embodied as, among other things: a method, system, or set ofinstructions embodied on one or more computer-readable media.Accordingly, the embodiments may take the form of a hardware embodiment,a software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware.In one embodiment, the invention takes the form of a computer-programproduct that includes computer-useable instructions embodied on one ormore computer-readable media, as discussed further herein.

Embodiments of the present invention provide systems, methods, andcomputer-readable media for clinical integration of facial recognitioncapabilities. At a high level, embodiments of the present inventionprovide a customized and complex software product that specificallyaddresses a need to integrate facial recognition technology withelectronic health record (EHR) technology. The software product cancommunicate with one or more disparate sources to, among other things,provide health data from an EHR, store health data in an EHR, generateone or more health documentation forms (e.g., a pre-arrival visit form),and the like. The software product can provide the integration with anEHR system while preserving privacy of an individual and the dataassociated therewith accessed from the EHR system.

Referring to the drawings in general, an initially to FIG. 1 , a blockdiagram illustrating an exemplary system 100 architecture in which someembodiments of the present disclosure may be employed. It should beunderstood that this and other arrangements described herein are setforth only as examples. Other arrangements and elements (e.g., machines,interfaces, functions, orders, and groupings of functions, etc.) can beused in addition to or instead of those shown, and some elements may beomitted altogether. Further, many of the elements described herein arefunctional entities that may be implemented as discrete or distributedcomponents or in conjunction with other components, and in any suitablecombination and location. Various functions described herein as beingperformed by one or more entities may be carried out by hardware,firmware, and/or software. For instance, various functions may becarried out by a processor executing instructions stored in memory.

It should be understood that the system 100 shown in FIG. 1 is anexample of one suitable computing system architecture. Each of thecomponents of FIG. 1 may be implemented via any type of computingdevice. The components can communicate with each other via a networkincluding, without limitation, one or more local area networks (LANs)and/or wide area networks (WANs). Such networking environments arecommonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets,and the Internet. It should be understood that any number of componentsshown in FIG. 1 may be employed within the system 100 within the scopeof the present invention. Each may be implemented via a single device ormultiple devices cooperating in a distributed environment. Additionally,other components not shown may also be included within the environment.

Among other components not shown, the system 100 includes a variety ofuser devices, such as source device 108, an EHR server 104, a facialrecognition engine 106, a facial integration manager, and a database110, any of which can interact with any other component of the system100 and each of which are communicatively coupled with each other. Thesecomponents may communicate with each other via networking means (e.g.,network 102) which may include, without limitation, one or more localarea networks LANs and/or wide area networks (WANs). In exemplaryimplementations, such networks comprise the Internet and/or cellularnetworks, amongst any of a variety of possible public and/or privatenetworks.

Source device 108 can comprise any type of computing device capable ofuse by a user. By way of example and not limitation, a source device canbe embodied as a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a mobiledevice, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a smart watch, a wearablecomputer, a fitness tracker, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device,a global positioning system (GPS) device, a video player, a handheldcommunications device, an embedded system controller, a camera, a remotecontrol, a wearable electronic device with a camera (e.g., smartglasses, gesture-based wearable computers, etc.) a consumer electronicdevice, a workstation, or any combination of these delineated devices, acombination of these devices, or any other suitable computer device.

EHR server 104 maintains, and provides access to, one or more EHRdatabase(s) containing records of treatment events, medication history,diagnoses, problems, allergies, substance use history, demographicattributes, history of violence, laboratory tests, time and date data,and any other health-related data, or any combination thereof for aplurality of patients. Additionally, the EHR database (such as datastore 110) can include clinical notes, appointment notes, records ofissued prescriptions, diagnoses, care plans, bloodwork, urinalysis,treatment data, emergency contact information, and the like, for eachpatient of a healthcare facility or a plurality of healthcarefacilities. Further, EHR database can include images, representations,or clinical documentation of physical health data (e.g., burns,abrasions, scars, etc.). Additionally, in some embodiments, EHR server104 can maintain one or more pharmaceutical formularies that identifyprescriptions prescribed by, or available for prescription by, careproviders.

Facial recognition engine 106 comprises instructions to perform facialrecognition processing. In particular, and as described further herein,the facial recognition engine 106 can receive a source image, performfacial recognition processing, and compare to a reference image todetermine if a face in the source image matches a face in the referenceimage. As used herein, a “reference image” refers to an image that isassociated with a known individual (e.g., an image that has alreadyundergone facial recognition processing and the results thereof areassociated with a known individual) while a “source image” refers to animage that is communicated to undergo facial recognition software toidentify an individual (i.e., an image that is not associated with aknown individual). Any facial recognition software that can process asource image to identify facial coordinates and identify any matchingreference images (or a lack thereof) can be utilized as the facialrecognition engine 106, such as the Amazon Rekognition® facialrecognition program.

Facial integration manager 112 can facilitate communication between asource device, such as source device 108, and a plurality of othersources such as an EHR system (such as EHR server 104), a data store(such as data store 110), facial recognition software (such as facialrecognition engine 106), and the like. Facial integration manager 112can include an application programming interface (API) library thatincludes specifications for routines, data structures, object classes,and variables that support the interaction of the facial integrationmanager 112 architecture and the software framework of one or moredisparate sources (e.g., EHR server 104). These APIs can includeconfiguration specifications for the system 100 such that the componentstherein may communicate with each other, as described herein.

Data store 110 can store a variety of data. While shown as a singledatabase in FIG. 1 , data store 110 can be multiple data stores and canbe associated with different entities. For the sake of simplicity, datastore 110 is described herein as a singular database that is incommunication with multiple entities. One of skill in the art willunderstand the data store 110 can take a variety of forms, berepresented as multiple components, and communicate with any number ofsources. Data store 110 can include, among other things, health-relateddata for individuals such as EHRs, facial recognition data (discussedfurther herein) such as face identifiers and/or facial coordinates,patient identifiers, demographic information, public service URLs(discussed further herein), and the like.

Having briefly described the components of system 100, exemplarycomponent interactions of the components of FIG. 1 are now describedwith reference to FIG. 2 . In application, a reference image isacquired. In embodiments, a reference image is acquired at a patientregistration encounter at a healthcare facility, During said encounter,a patient may register and consent to analysis of a photo, with facialrecognition data associated therewith, to be stored in a data store(such as data store 110). The reference image can be associated with apatient's name and date of birth as well as any other demographicinformation desired by the registration entity (e.g., sex, emergencycontact(s), primary language, etc.). Once acquired, the registrationentity can communicate the reference photo either directly to the facialrecognition engine 106 or to the facial recognition engine 106 via thefacial integration manager 112, as shown at instance 210 of FIG. 2 .Reference images can be acquired from a plurality of sources including,but not limited to, healthcare facilities (e.g., hospitals, clinics,in-patient facilities, etc.), electronic health portals, insuranceportals, social media networks, health data exchange platforms, nationalself-registrations open to all the public, and the like. Eachfacility/source can be associated with an enterprise ID (associated withthe photo) such that multiple facilities/sources can interact with thesystem 100. Public services associated with the enterprise ID can alsobe stored in association with the enterprise ID.

In addition or in lieu of accessing the public service URL, the systemhas capability to integrate with any health care provider/third partyapplication that supports interoperability (e.g., CommonWell,HealtheIntent) to retrieve clinical documents to determine the requiredallergies, problems etc. Such sources may be EHR-agnostic interfaces toretrieve clinical documents from multiple HIE systems. Put simply, if apatient has visited Hospital A utilizing EHR system X on the east coastin the past and Hospital B (that utilizes EHR system Y, which isdifferent from EHR system X) in the Midwest, and then Hospital C (thatutilizes EHR system Z, different from both EHR system X and Y) on thewest coast, the application can retrieve clinical documents from each ofthe different systems by interfacing with said sources. The informationcan be accessed from different HIE systems because of theinteroperability with said sources. The above-mentioned health careprovider(s)/third party application(s) can be integrated with (and,thus, provide access to the system described herein) any other clinicalplatform including information such as, for example, outpatient pharmacymedication lists, Consolidated Clinical Documents (CCDA), etc.

The facial recognition engine 106 can include an application that iscontinuously listening for receipt of images. Receipt of an image cantrigger facial recognition analysis. The facial recognition engine 106can be configured a variety of ways to perform facial recognitionanalysis. In embodiments, the facial recognition engine 106 indexes aface of an individual within a received reference image and stores theimage. In embodiments, the facial recognition engine 106 generates aface identifier (also referred to herein as a FACE ID or a uniqueidentifier), which is a mathematical or any other representation of thefacial coordinates/face identified within the reference image. The FACEID can be associated with the patient data associated with the referenceimage (e.g., the FACE ID, upon generation, can be associated with apatient identifier, a patient name, etc.) such that the FACE ID is usedto identify the patient. Thus, once the FACE ID is generated, thereference image is no longer necessary. The reference image (along withthe data associated therewith) can then be stored in any file/storageservice/system (such as data store 110) along with the FACE ID.Alternatively, the FACE ID can be stored in a storage system (such asdata store 110, for instance) in association with the patient metadataassociated with the reference image, without storing the reference imageitself. In further embodiments, the reference image can be stored in astorage system separate from the storage system in which the FACE IDand/or patient metadata is stored. The communication of the FACE ID,along with the patient metadata gleaned from the reference image, to adatabase is shown at instance 221.

To summarize the above, a reference image is received from a source andanalyzed by facial recognition technology to identify a uniqueidentifier (i.e., FACE ID) with which to associate the reference image.The reference image is associated with patient data, which is, in turn,associated with the unique identifier upon its generation. The uniqueidentifier will be used throughout this disclosure to identifyinformation about an unknown patient, as illustrated in the examplesbelow.

As previously mentioned, there are at least thousands and thousands ofinstances of unidentified individuals being brought to emergencydepartments each year. An emergency responder could respond to a motorvehicle accident or a fire accident, for example, where the individualsinvolved are unresponsive. An individual may be found unresponsive withno identification in many situations. In the event where an unknownindividual is encountered by a healthcare provider (e.g., emergencyresponder, etc.), the system 100 described herein may be utilized toidentify the unidentified individual and receive health-relatedinformation associated therewith, among other things. In thoseinstances, a source image can be acquired via a mobile device (e.g., acamera of a mobile device) associated with the healthcare provider. Themobile device can be identified as associated with the healthcareprovider (e.g., authorized provider) to ensure only authorized devicescan communicate with and receive information from the facial integrationmanager 112, for instance. Thus, a healthcare provider is not requiredto be associated with the mobile device but a mobile device is requiredto have been approved for communication with the facial integrationmanager 112. The source image comprises at least a portion of theunidentified individual's face.

A source device, such as source device 108, can acquire a source imageand communicate the source image to the facial recognition engine 106,via the facial integration manager 112. In embodiments, the facialintegration manager 112 is an application embodied on the source device108. In embodiments, the facial integration manager 112 is embodiedwithin the EHR server 104. In other aspects, the facial integrationmanager 112 is a decoupled service/application that is not tied to theEHR server 104 or the source device 108. The communication of a sourcephoto to the facial recognition engine 106 is illustrated at instance211.

The facial recognition engine 106, upon receipt of a source image,performs facial recognition analysis to identify a matching referenceimage or, more particularly, matching facial coordinates/data, or a lackthereof. In the event the facial coordinates of the source image do notmatch any facial coordinates (or a FACE ID) of a reference image, anotification indicating a match was not found can be communicated backto the facial integration manager 112 and, in turn, to the source device108. When the facial recognition engine 106 determines that a FACE IDcorresponds to the facial coordinates of the source image, the FACE ID,which is associated with patient information (from the reference image)is communicated to the facial integration manager 112 at instance 212.In embodiments, a confidence score is also communicated to the facialintegration manager 112 along with the FACE ID. A confidence score, asused herein, refers generally to an indication of a likelihood that thefacial coordinates of the source image are a match to the facialcoordinates of the identified reference image. The confidence score canbe represented as a percentage. Thresholds may be established such thata confidence score below a predetermined threshold is identified as aninvalid match. A confidence score above a predetermined threshold may beconsidered a match.

The facial integration manager 112 can, utilizing the FACE ID, accessdemographic information for the patient associated with the FACE ID. Inparticular, the FACE ID may be stored in a data store (such as datastore 110) with a mapping to a patient identifier (patient ID). Thepatient identifier can be used to access information about a patientsuch as a name, date of birth, residence information, and the like. Thefacial integration manager 112 can communicate the FACE ID to the datastore 110 (or any storage component housing a FACE ID) at instance 213.The data store 110 can communicate the demographic data back to thefacial integration manager 112 at instance 214. In embodiments, the datastore 110 also communicates a patient identifier to the facialintegration manager 112 along with the demographic information. Thepatient identifier, as explained herein, can be used to accessadditional information from a patient's EHR.

Once the facial integration manager 112 receives the demographicinformation, it immediately communicates the demographic information tothe source device 108 at instance 216. The patient integration manger112 continues on to identify relevant information for the now-identifiedpatient. As shown at instance 217, the facial integration manager 112communicates the patient identifier (received with the FACE IDdemographic information) to a public URL via a service API call.Alternatively, the patient identifier could be used to access an EHRdirectly when a connection exists between the facial integration manager112 and the EHR. Public URLs, in some embodiments, are associated withthe EHR system. The URLs may be accessed to identify allergies of apatient, problems of a patient, diagnoses of a patient, and the like.Any information from an EHR could be accessed via the public URLsdescribed herein if desired by the administrator. The facial integrationmanager 112 is programmed to request access to the information availableat the public URL(s), at instance 217, and receive the availableinformation at instance 218. The service URL/public URL can be protectedsuch that only authorized requests are accepted. The facial integrationmanager 112 can filter out information that is not relevant or shouldnot be communicated. In emergency situations, for example, an emergencyresponder does not have time to review an individual's entire medicalhistory, nor is it necessary. Rather, an emergency responder needs tohave relevant information provided quickly such as, but not limited to,allergies, problems, a history of violence or addiction, chronic medicalconditions, and the like, if present. Of the information that isavailable to be provided to a source device, the facial integrationmanager 112 can rank the information such that information that ishigher ranked is provided to the source device at instance 219. Thus, inembodiments, the facial integration manager 112 can receive allinformation available from the public URL for a patient and filter outunnecessary information (i.e., indicated as information to notcommunicate in an emergency situation) and rank the remaininginformation for a custom, prioritized communication of information. Inother embodiments, the facial integration manager 112 can receive allinformation available from the public URL for a patient and rank all ofthe information to then filter out any information with a ranking belowa predetermined threshold. The higher ranked/critical information (i.e.,information not filtered out) can be communicated to the source deviceor can undergo another ranking (since the lower ranked/non-criticalinformation was filtered out) and then be communicated to the sourcedevice based on the updated rankings. In aspects, allergies and problemsare the highest ranked information from the EHR and will be selected, ifpresent, to provide to the emergency responder (e.g., there can besituations where allergies or problems are not present and, thus, notcommunicated to a source device). In other aspects, the filtering stepsdescribed above may be performed by any other component and/or servicethe facial integration manager can call on to perform the steps. By wayof example, and not limitation, a problem of Congestive Heart Failure(CHF) could be listed as a high priority (e.g., at the top of the list)while seasonal allergies could be not shown at all (i.e., filtered outas non-critical) or provided in the list since it is an allergy butshown toward the bottom of the list as it would rank lower in priorityto a CHF condition. By way of further example, medications such as ablood thinner, beta blocker, or anti-seizure medication would be rankedhigher than, for example, a stool softener or multivitamin. Anyvariations of highly ranked information can be provided to a sourcedevice (e.g., each type of information may not be present for eachindividual encountered and, thus, different information may be highlyranked for one person that may be ranked lower for another).

Furthermore, the ranking described herein can be performed by a varietyof components of the system 100. For instance, the ranking may beperformed by the facial integration manager 112 or by any of the publicservices described herein. The ranking could be performed with a rulesengine (not shown) to evaluate specific parameters to compile the rankedlist (e.g., the rules engine can be integrated with the facialintegration manager 112, an EHR system, or be a stand-alone component).In other aspects, the ranking can be performed with integration with aclinical scoring or risk assessment scale (e.g., Glasgow Coma Scale foreye, verbal, and motor response problem ranking; VTE VenousThromboembolism Risk Assessment).

The information provided above describes the interaction of variouscomponents of the system 100 to provide critical information to a sourcedevice where an unidentified individual is involved. Once theinformation is provided, the facial integration manager 112 continues onby dynamically, automatically generating at least a pre-arrival visitnote and communicating the same to the source device at instance 222. Apre-arrival visit note, as used herein, refers generally to a notegenerated for a presenting individual prior to arrival at a destination.The pre-arrival visit note generally comprises demographic information(name, age, date of birth, sex, etc.) and a plurality of fields foradditional information such as chief complaint, vital signs, allergies,problems, time to arrival at destination, estimated arrival time atdestination, arrival method, medications given, etc. The pre-arrivalvisit form serves to place a patient on a tracking list, reserve a roomfor the patient, notify the clinicians of a patient status and anyaction already taken with respect to the patient, and the like. Thepre-arrival visit form can also assist with providing prep time (i.e.,time for preparation for the patient's arrival) at the ED facility toplan in the event of critical condition).

The facial integration manager 112 can utilize the demographicinformation received to pre-populate the pre-arrival visit note suchthat the emergency responder does not need to create the note orpopulate the demographic information. Additionally, the facialintegration manager 112 can also pre-populate any other field of thepre-arrival note where information has been gathered (e.g., allergies,triage notes depicting the condition of the patient, etc.). Theemergency responder can enter additional information into thepre-arrival visit note (e.g., speech to text). The first responder candictate the condition of the patient and/or incident verbally and theapplication embodied on the mobile device can capture the audio andconvert the audio to text and the same can be fed to the pre-arrivalnote. This will significantly improve the process efficiency and thepatient care. Optionally the audio can be stored along with the text forany reference. After converting the speech to text, natural languageprocessing (NLP)/artificial intelligent (AI) models may be utilized totrain the model to return one or more recommendations. The pre-arrivalvisit note can also be communicated to the EHR server 104 at instance220 to preserve the note in the patient's EHR. In addition to thepre-arrival visit note text, videos and/or images can be attached to thepre-arrival visit note. For example, it may be helpful to upload animage of an accident to indicate a severity of injuries For example, acrash impact is often helpful to administer proper care. In order todetermine a crash impact and identify one or more recommendationsautomatically based on the picture, the system can leverage AItechnologies and train the model to return the results such as a crashimpact or one or more recommendations regarding care. By way of aspecific example, a first responder can take a photo of an accident forcrash impact analysis and, based on the damage to the vehicle, theapplication can generate a computational assessment of the injuries thata passenger(s) may have sustained, among other information derived fromthe image.

By way of another example, a first responder can speak (audio) and theaudio can be converted to text that is run against an NLP/AIengine/model.

The model can also provide one or more recommendations based oninformation from the EHR and integration with one or more rules enginesor risk assessment scales. For example, if the EHR provides “57 year oldmale, history of myocardial infarction,” the model can ascertain thatthe patient likely has a history of surgery.

The model can also be trained to learn differences in audio inputs. Forinstance, if a user speaks with an accent, the model can be trained toidentify the accent. Additionally, users can speak differently whenunder stress (e.g., may speak very fast or not clear). The model can betrained to identify speech even in those situations.

In embodiments, receipt of the pre-arrival visit note at the EHR (or thedestination system, such as the ED) triggers a clinical workflow. Inother words, the pre-arrival visit note is identified as received and aclinical workflow is initiated for the patient (before the patientarrived at the ED facility). Such a clinical workflow may include addingthe patient to the tracking board, assigning a patient to a room, etc.Receipt of information, such as the pre-arrival visit note, in the EHR(or at the destination system) can also trigger notification ofemergency contacts (accessed from the EHR server 104).

The application described herein provides interoperability betweennumerous systems to exchange private information and provide theinformation in necessary situations while still preserving the sensitivenature of the information.

Turning now to FIG. 3 , a flow diagram is provided showing a method 300in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. Initially,at block 310, an image of an individual is received from a sourcedevice. In embodiments, the image comprises a face of the individual orat least a portion thereof. In aspects, a plurality of source images canbe uploaded. Additional images in cases where, for instance, there is adistortion of the patient's face, could help in obtaining a match insome cases. A unique identifier associated with the face of theindividual is received at block 320. Utilizing the unique identifier,demographic information of the individual is accessed at block 330. Thedemographic information can be derived from an electronic health recordof the individual. At block 340, the demographic information iscommunicated to the source device. At block 350, one or more of at leastone problem associated with the individual or at least one allergyassociated with the individual is accessed. At block 360, the at leastone problem or the at least one allergy is communicated to the sourcedevice.

Turning now to FIG. 4 , a flow diagram is provided showing a method 400in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. Initially,at block 410, an image of an individual is received from a sourcedevice, wherein the image comprises a face of the individual. A uniqueidentifier associated with the face of the individual is received atblock 420. Utilizing the unique identifier, demographic information ofthe individual is accessed at block 430, wherein the demographicinformation is derived from an electronic health record of theindividual. At block 440, the demographic information is communicated tothe source device. One or more of at least one problem associated withthe individual or at least one allergy associated with the individual isaccessed at block 450. The at least one problem or the at least oneallergy is communicated to the source device at block 460. At block 470,a pre-arrival note (also referred to herein as a pre-arrival visit note)is generated for the individual prior to arriving at a destination,wherein the pre-arrival note is pre-populated with at least thedemographic information.

Turning to FIG. 5 , it depicts a block diagram of an exemplaryenvironment suitable to implement embodiments of the present invention.The exemplary computing environment 500 is suitable to implementembodiments of the present invention. It will be understood by those ofordinary skill in the art that the exemplary computing environment 500is just one example of a suitable computing environment and is notintended to limit the scope of use or functionality of the presentinvention. Similarly, the exemplary computing environment 500 should notbe interpreted as imputing any dependency and/or any requirements withregard to each component and combination(s) of components illustrated inFIG. 5 . It will be appreciated by those having ordinary skill in theart that the connections illustrated in FIG. 5 are also exemplary asother methods, hardware, software, and devices for establishing acommunications link between the components, devices, systems, andentities, as shown in FIG. 5 , may be utilized in implementation of thepresent invention. Although the connections are depicted using one ormore solid lines, it will be understood by those having ordinary skillin the art that the exemplary connections of FIG. 5 may be hardwired orwireless, and may use intermediary components that have been omitted ornot included in FIG. 5 for simplicity's sake. As such, the absence ofcomponents from FIG. 5 should be not be interpreted as limiting thepresent invention to exclude additional components and combination(s) ofcomponents. Moreover, though devices and components are represented inFIG. 5 as singular devices and components, it will be appreciated thatsome embodiments may include a plurality of the devices and componentssuch that FIG. 5 should not be considered as limiting the number of adevices or components.

Continuing, the exemplary computing environment 500 of FIG. 5 isillustrated as being a distributed environment where components anddevices may be remote from one another and may perform separate tasks.The components and devices may communicate with one another and may belinked to each other using a network 506. The network 506 may includewireless and/or physical (e.g., hardwired) connections. Exemplarynetworks include a telecommunications network of a service provider orcarrier, Wide Area Network (WAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a WirelessLocal Area Network (WLAN), a cellular telecommunications network, aWi-Fi network, a short range wireless network, a Wireless MetropolitanArea Network (WMAN), a Bluetooth® capable network, a fiber opticnetwork, or a combination thereof. The network 506, generally, providesthe components and devices access to the Internet and web-basedapplications. The exemplary environment may also be a cloud computingenvironment.

The exemplary computing environment 500 comprises a computing device inthe form of a server 502. Although illustrated as one component in FIG.5 , the present invention may utilize a plurality of local serversand/or remote servers in the exemplary computing environment 900. Theserver 502 may include components such as a processing unit, internalsystem memory, and a suitable system bus for coupling to variouscomponents, including a database or database cluster. The system bus maybe any of several types of bus structures, including a memory bus ormemory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus, using any of avariety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation,such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus,Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, VideoElectronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus, also known as Mezzanine bus.

The server 502 may include or may have access to computer-readablemedia. Computer-readable media can be any available media that may beaccessed by server 502, and includes volatile and nonvolatile media, aswell as removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer-readable media may include computer storage mediaand communication media. Computer storage media may include, withoutlimitation, volatile and nonvolatile media, as well as removable andnon-removable media, implemented in any method or technology for storageof information, such as computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules, or other data. In this regard, computer storage mediamay include, but is not limited to, Random Access Memory (RAM),Read-Only Memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-OnlyMemory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM,digital versatile disks (DVDs) or other optical disk storage, magneticcassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage, or other magneticstorage device, or any other medium which can be used to store thedesired information and which may be accessed by the server 902.

Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated datasignal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and mayinclude any information delivery media. As used herein, the term“modulated data signal” refers to a signal that has one or more of itsattributes set or changed in such a manner as to encode information inthe signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication mediaincludes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection,and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared, andother wireless media. Combinations of any of the above also may beincluded within the scope of computer-readable media.

In embodiments, the server 502 uses logical connections to communicatewith one or more remote computers 508 within the exemplary computingenvironment 500. In one embodiment, the one or more remote computers 508comprise external computer systems that leverage object-orientedprogramming. In embodiments where the network 506 includes a wirelessnetwork, the server 502 may employ a modem to establish communicationswith the Internet, the server 502 may connect to the Internet usingWi-Fi or wireless access points, or the server 502 may use a wirelessnetwork adapter to access the Internet. The server 502 engages intwo-way communication with any or all of the components and devicesillustrated in FIG. 5 , using the network 506. Accordingly, the server502 may send data to and receive data from the remote computers 508 overthe network 506.

Although illustrated as a single device, the remote computers 508 mayinclude multiple computing devices. In an embodiment having adistributed network, the remote computers 508 may be located at one ormore different geographic locations. In an embodiment where the remotecomputers 508 are a plurality of computing devices, each of theplurality of computing devices may be located across various locationssuch as buildings in a campus, medical and research facilities at amedical complex, offices or “branches” of a banking/credit entity, ormay be mobile devices that are wearable or carried by personnel, orattached to vehicles or trackable items in a warehouse, for example.

In some embodiments, the remote computers 508 are physically located ina medical setting such as, for example, a laboratory, inpatient room, anoutpatient room, a hospital, a medical vehicle, a veterinaryenvironment, an ambulatory setting, a medical billing office, afinancial or administrative office, hospital administration setting, anin-home medical care environment, and/or medical professionals' offices.By way of example, a medical professional may include physicians;medical specialists such as surgeons, radiologists, cardiologists, andoncologists; emergency medical technicians; physicians' assistants;nurse practitioners; nurses; nurses' aides; pharmacists; dieticians;microbiologists; laboratory experts; genetic counselors; researchers;students; and the like. In other embodiments, the remote computers 508may be physically located in a non-medical setting, such as a packingand shipping facility or deployed within a fleet of delivery or couriervehicles. Remote computers 508 can also be hosted on a private or publiccloud.

Continuing, the exemplary computing environment 500 includes a database504. In some embodiments, the database 504 and at least the server 502,together, form a relational database management system. Although shownas a single component, the database 504 may be implemented usingmultiple data stores that are communicatively coupled to one another,independent of the geographic or physical location of a memory device.Exemplary data stores may also store data in the form of electronicrecords, for example, electronic medical records of patients,transaction records, billing records, task and workflow records,chronological event records, and the like. Database 504 can also behosted on a private or public cloud.

Generally, the database 504 includes physical memory that is configuredto store information encoded in data. For example, the database 504 mayprovide storage for computer-readable instructions, computer-executableinstructions, data structures, data arrays, computer programs,applications, and other data that supports the functions and action tobe undertaken using the exemplary computing environment 500 andcomponents shown in exemplary FIG. 5 .

In a computing environment having distributed components that arecommunicatively coupled via the network 506, program modules may belocated in local and/or remote computer storage media including, forexample only, memory storage devices. Embodiments of the presentinvention may be described in the context of computer-executableinstructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computingdevice. Program modules may include, but are not limited to, routines,programs, objects, components, and data structures that performparticular tasks or implement particular data types. In embodiments, theserver 502 may access, retrieve, communicate, receive, and updateinformation stored in the database 504, including program modules.Accordingly, the server 502 may execute, using a processor, computerinstructions stored in the database 504 in order to perform embodimentsdescribed herein.

Although internal components of the devices in FIG. 5 , such as theserver 502, are not illustrated, those of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that internal components and their interconnection arepresent in the devices of FIG. 5 . Accordingly, additional detailsconcerning the internal construction of the device are not furtherdisclosed herein.

The present invention has been described in relation to particularembodiments, which are intended in all respects to be illustrativerather than restrictive. Further, the present invention is not limitedto these embodiments, but variations and modifications may be madewithout departing from the scope of the present invention.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention is one welladapted to attain all the ends and objects set forth above, togetherwith other advantages which are obvious and inherent to the system andmethod. It will be understood that certain features and subcombinationsare of utility and may be employed without reference to other featuresand subcombinations.

What is claimed is:
 1. One or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia having executable instructions embodied thereon that, whenexecuted by one or more processors, perform a method, the mediacomprising: via one or more processors: generating, by a facialrecognition engine, a unique identifier using a reference digital imageof a face of an individual; associating the unique identifier with anelectronic health records (EHR) that corresponds to the individual;subsequently receiving another digital image from a source device;determining, by the facial recognition engine, the other digital imageincludes the face of the individual; at least partially matching, by thefacial recognition engine, the face of the individual from the otherdigital image to the unique identifier; in response to at leastpartially matching the face of the individual from the other digitalimage to the unique identifier, retrieving a plurality of medical datafrom the EHR that corresponds to the individual, the EHR beingidentified as associated with the unique identifier; ranking, by afacial integration manager using a rules engine, each of the pluralityof medical data relative to one another; determining a subset of theplurality of medical data meets or exceeds a predetermined threshold forcriticality, wherein the subset of medical data includes one or moreproblems, one or more allergies, or a combination thereof; andcommunicating the subset of medical data to the source device forpresentation in an order based on the ranking.
 2. The media of claim 1,wherein the other digital image is captured by a camera of the sourcedevice.
 3. The media of claim 1, wherein the source device is associatedwith an emergency responder.
 4. The media of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a confidence score indicating a likelihood of amatch of the reference digital image to the other digital image.
 5. Themedia of claim 4, wherein the confidence score is a percentageindicator.
 6. The media of claim 1, further comprising immediatelycommunicating, by the facial integration manager, demographicinformation of the individual to the source device in response to atleast partially matching the face of the individual from the otherdigital image to the unique identifier.
 7. The media of claim 6, furthercomprising, identifying, by a patient integration manager, relevantinformation for the individual.
 8. A method for the clinical integrationof facial processing, the method comprising: via one or more processors:generating, by a facial recognition engine, a unique identifier using areference digital image of a face of an individual; associating theunique identifier with an electronic health record (EHR) thatcorresponds to the individual; subsequently receiving another digitalimage from a source device; determining, by the facial recognitionengine, the other digital image includes the face of the individual; atleast partially matching, by the facial recognition engine, the face ofthe individual from the other digital image to the unique identifier; inresponse to at least partially matching the face of the individual fromthe other digital image to the unique identifier, retrieving a pluralityof medical data from the EHR that corresponds to the individual, the EHRbeing identified as associated with the unique identifier; ranking, by afacial integration manager using a rules engine, each of the pluralityof medical data relative to one another; determining a subset of theplurality of medical data meets or exceeds a predetermined threshold forcriticality, wherein the subset of medical data includes one or moreproblems, one or more allergies, or a combination thereof; andcommunicating the subset of medical data to the source device forpresentation in an order based on the ranking.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein the facial integration manager is an application on the sourcedevice.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the subset of medical datacommunicated to the source device is accessed via a public URLassociated with an electronic health record server.
 11. The method ofclaim 8, wherein the one or more processors are further configured forgenerating a pre-arrival note for the individual prior to arriving at adestination, wherein the pre-arrival note is pre-populated with at leastdemographic information of the individual.
 12. The method of claim 11,wherein the pre-arrival note is pre-populated with one or more problems,one or more allergies, or a combination thereof that were included inthe determined subset of medical data that corresponds to theindividual.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the other image iscaptured by a camera of the source device, and wherein the source deviceis associated with an emergency responder.
 14. The method of claim 8,further comprising immediately communicating, by the facial integrationmanager, demographic information of the individual to the source devicein response to at least partially matching the face of the individualfrom the other digital image to the unique identifier.
 15. A system forclinical integration of facial recognition, the system comprising: viaone or more processors: generating, by a facial recognition engine, aunique identifier using a reference digital image of a face of anindividual; associating the unique identifier with an electronic healthrecords (EHR) that corresponds to the individual; subsequently receivinganother digital image from a source device; determining, by the facialrecognition engine, the other digital image includes the face of theindividual; at least partially matching, by the facial recognitionengine, the face of the individual from the other digital image to theunique identifier; in response to at least partially matching the faceof the individual from the other digital image to the unique identifier,retrieving a plurality of medical data from the EHR that corresponds tothe individual, the EHR being identified as associated with the uniqueidentifier; ranking, by a facial integration manager using a rulesengine, each of the plurality of medical data relative to one another;determining a subset of the plurality of medical data meets or exceeds apredetermined threshold for criticality, wherein the subset of medicaldata includes one or more problems, one or more allergies, or acombination thereof; and communicating the subset of medical data to thesource device for presentation in an order based on the ranking.
 16. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein associating the unique identifier with anEHR that corresponds to the individual further comprises storing theunique identifier in a data store and mapping the unique identifier to apatient identifier.
 17. The system of claim 16, further comprisingcommunicating, from the data store, demographic information and thepatient identifier of the individual to the facial integration managerin response to receiving the unique identifier.
 18. The system of claim17, further comprising using, by the facial integration manager, thepatient identifier to access the EHR.
 19. The system of claim 15,wherein the one or more processors are further configured for generatinga pre-arrival note for the individual prior to arriving at adestination, wherein the pre-arrival note is pre-populated with at leastdemographic information of the individual.
 20. The system of claim 19,wherein the pre-arrival note is pre-populated with one or more problems,one or more allergies, or a combination thereof that were included inthe determined subset of medical data that corresponds to theindividual.